{"id":201,"date":"2014-01-07T23:44:56","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T04:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/?p=201"},"modified":"2014-01-08T19:10:12","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T00:10:12","slug":"transponders-vat-keys-and-vehicle-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"Transponders, VAT Keys, and Vehicle Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Where there are automobiles, there are instances of automobile theft. In the United States alone, a motor vehicle is stolen every 26.4 seconds. Vehicle manufacturers have gone to great lengths to make their vehicles difficult to steal; and most of these “great lengths” are now standard features for most vehicles made today.<\/p>\n

Stealing the contents of a car may be a a motive for breaking into a car (from time to time), but most car thieves want to steal the vehicle itself. Although joyriding is often the ultimate goal of teenage car thieves, delivering the vehicle to a “chop-shop” results in profitable\u00a0returns for all criminal elements involved. Significant monetary incentives for criminals has created a serious car theft problem. Car manufacturers have developed lock systems to thwart or otherwise hinder car theft.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Immobilizer<\/strong><\/center>Starting around 2000, car manufacturers started equipping vehicles with immobilizers. An immobilizer is a device that immobilizes the car if an unauthorized key is used to start the vehicle. When the ignition is turned, the immobilizer sends a signal to the key; if the key does not return the proper signal back to the immobilizer, the device turns the ignition off, regardless of the key position.<\/p>\n

The Transponder<\/strong><\/center>How does the immobilizer communicate with the key? The immobilzer doesn’t communicate with the key; it communicates with a chip that is inside the key head. This chip is called a transponder. That plastic head on the key may only serve as a handy thing with which to hold onto the key, but more than likely it contains a transponder chip.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 Vehicle Remote Controls<\/strong><\/center>If your key has buttons on it for locking and unlocking doors, starting the car, opening the trunk, etc., this is NOT a transponder. Although the key may (and probably does) ALSO have a transponder chip within the head, the “remote” itself is not a transponder.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Programming Transponder Keys<\/strong><\/center>After we make a key for your vehicle, we will program the transponder chip, if your key contains one. To be accurate: the chip itself is not programmed; your car is programmed to accept the new chip. This is done using a transponder programmer. This computer plugs into a terminal underneath your dash. The technician operates this computer until a “key in memory” (or related message) is given; programming is complete at this point. Programming often requires specific PIN codes or manufacturer PIN codes; sometimes the verifiaction process may take awhile.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 VAT Keys<\/strong><\/center>In the 90’s GM started implementing an earlier version of the transponder, called VAT (vehicle anti theft). VAT keys come in 15 preprogrammed frequencies. Only 1 specific frequency can be used with a certain vehicle. A different type of device, a VAT reader, is required in order to determine the vehicle’s frequency in order to determine the proper key blank.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Where there are automobiles, there are instances of automobile theft. In the United States alone, a motor vehicle is stolen every 26.4 seconds. Vehicle manufacturers have gone to great lengths to make their vehicles difficult to steal; and most of these “great lengths” are now standard features for most vehicles made today. Stealing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-hq-locksmith-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hqlocksmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}